How can you manage engineering projects with long lead times?

Long lead projects need to be scoped and structured differently to begin with. Such a project must be scoped as a sum of smaller parts with clear handover points and yet bound by a few crucial threads of continuity. A good common example is the project to improve the process maturity of an organisation to a higher level as defined by the adopted quality system. One breaks down the overall scope into loosely coupled departmental blocks and connected by horizontal and vertical threads of catch-ball actions and adding up to goals. This avoids the risk of team attrition during long project durations while keeping a revolving door of experts & passionate workers moving in and out. The backbone structure needs to be clearly defined, though.

En guise de contribution, je dirais que la portée et les objectifs du projet peuvent être regroupés dans les termes de référence du projet qui doivent partir d’une définition claire du besoin à satisfaire et permettre ainsi de faire le lien entre l’objet et la finalité, une fois le projet réceptionné. En outre l’adhésion des parties intéressées à la finalité du projet est fondamentale dans la définition des besoins à satisfaire et je partage totalement le fait qu’il faille non seulement communiquer la vision et la valeur du projet aux parties intéressées, mais aussi, tenir compte de leur avis pour en améliorer le cadrage initial.

For the projects with longer lead time, it is always recommended to make work breakdown structure and divide main milestones into smaller milestones. In parallel, always identify and follow critical path in the Project Schedule.

D'après mon expérience de plus de 20 ans sur le management de grands projets d'ingénierie à long délai (de 2 à 12 ans), le plus important dans l'ordre est de manager les équipes par les délais et de suivre les étapes suivantes : 1. Définir un planning macro avec des jalons clés 2. A partir de ce planning, et surtout pour les 3 à 6 mois à venir, définir des activités à la semaine. 3. Créer une organisation et une équipe où chacun se sente responsable de ses activités. 4. De manager l'équipe avec ces objectifs à la semaine, ce qui permet d'allier à la fois le long terme et le court terme. 5. Avoir des rituels pour créer un esprit d'équipe et une entraide qui permet d'agir collégialement et de se souder pour maintenir le cap !

Project scope and goals should be clear from the start. However, long lead-time projects often experience scope changes over their duration. This is particularly expected in software development projects and is best managed by adopting an agile project management approach.

Longer timescale projects (possibly years rather than a few months) require detailed planning, and of course identification of the Critical Path (CPA) to ensure that immediate action is taken to mitigate work-elements which would affect the project completion date! In my experience, it is preferable to ditch deterministic activity times, and adopt PERT. PERT forces us to consider the risk associated with activity times estimation, and come up with more realistic, statistically supported, completion dates. It also contributes to learning by comparing how well our 'estimates' were compared to reality!

An appropriate gated process, with sign off or continuation approval based on agreed risk mitigation and hard closure dates.

This is related to any Project. Here the discussion is for Engineering Project. What I understand we have to focus on those area which are important to Design and Engineering Not with procurment like things. Here the most important is do identify the design inputs, output and time and process required to produce the out puts. The approved and final deaign will further drive the other project phases like procuremnt and exexution etc.

You need to define and write down clear expectations for each phases and tasks of the project. Short title are good for compact display but can be interpreted in different ways. Ensure clear alignment and understanding. Communication is key!

An essential item is to align your construction schedule with your equipment delivery schedule. Construction contractors go “brick happy” unless there are clear directions to leave designated areas unfinished, to allow the delivery and movement of large equipment into the facility. This will ultimately impact your CQV schedule - so plans to perform what testing can be done are implemented. Quality decisions on what will be acceptable must be made at the start of the project, documented and produced during any audit (if required)

One simple thing - get your stakeholders sponsors clients and partners in a room for 2 hours, create an open and honnest atmosphere and get them aligning on a one pager strategy to fix the key objectives and associated smart KPI’s. Make this document signed and repeat review exercice with your steerCo along the main project Gates.

It is key to manage stakeholders in the project by clearly communicating milestones and the project plan.Reasons for the long lead times must also be explained in details.If the reasons can be managed and brought under control then countermeasures should be provided else everyone has to live with this reality of the longer leadtimes

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Set the goals for the team to meet. They need to be clear, specific goals that are achievable with milestones. The goals may change - this is to be expected. Have milestone meetings. Set the priorities of this project along with how they relate to other activities. Ask the team where they will need priority help to meet the goals on time. Otherwise, second priority is no priority. The gripers often have the straight scoop. The goals must include risks and business case. Know when to quit or kill the project. Act promptly and tell the Team first. Be visible in the departments. Provide moral support. Leaders lead. Your Team, your people, are your greatest assets.

Firstly, identify your stakeholders, understand their needs and how they influence your project and double-check that you've included all interested parties. Set realistic expectations from the beginning. Clearly define project goals, timelines (as can be), and deliverables to avoid misunderstandings. Use simple, non-technical language when possible, especially with stakeholders not familiar with project specifics. Listen actively to their concerns and feedback, ensuring they feel heard and valued. Provide timely updates on progress, challenges, and any adjustments needed. Be transparent and strive for mutual understanding to balance different expectations.

Gestionar las expectativas es clave para no perder el foco y mantener el alineamiento entre todas las partes que participan del proyecto. A través de dinámicas de trabajo a nivel individual y de grupo de trabajo se pueden ir puliendo ciertas estimaciones y esfuerzos a realizar en el contexto del proyecto.

Project performance is often presented to management and stakeholders with Gantt charts, corporate buzzwords, cautious optimism, etc., but the truth is…you don’t know what you don’t know. Manufacturing a safe and effective product at scale and within budget constraints is difficult, especially the first time. Accept that you don’t know everything, incorporate a safety factor into your timeline accordingly, and most importantly “trust but verify” with key players in the project. Relying on a vendor for a critical component for a product launch? Conduct weekly meetings, monitor progress, and don’t ease up until your device is final packed. Become friends with these folks. Assume nothing.

Overseeing long-term engineering projects requires meticulous planning and monitoring. These are the fundamental steps I focus on for Monitoring and Control: 1. Establishing clear metrics as part of project planning. 2. Regularly recording these metrics at predetermined intervals or upon reaching a specific milestone. 3. Analyzing the data, performing a causal analysis, and compiling a report. 4. Defining and implementing a corrective action or resolution plan. 5. Auditing and reviewing the plan for effectiveness. These strategies might require customization based on the unique requirements of your project. The key is to continuously improve, using insights gained from each project to refine future ones.

Após finalzia??o das 03 etapas anteriores, é de grande valia o nonitoramento e controle do desempenho, evolu??o e desenvolvimento do projeto de acordo com sua evolu??o real, somente assim podera detectar os gargalos e os caminhos criticos que entraram no decorrer dessa evolu??o, lembrando que o caminho critico é mutavel de acordo com a evolu??o do projeto.

Implementando sistemas robustos para monitorar o progresso do projeto em rela??o ao cronograma e aos objetivos estabelecidos. Fazendo ajustes conforme necessário para garantir que o projeto permane?a no caminho certo

Set the metric of a successful project, such as on time completion, compliance to engineering standard, on the budgeted plan. Then use tools to present the bigger picture to shareholders.

Long term projects, in the context of the current technological environment, have one major risk of note which is the risk of loss of relevance due to advancements in technology. This particular risk is one that needs to be deeply considered when embarking on projects that span the duration of years. In my opinion this specific risk factor needs to be considered during formulation of the project goals rather than later on in the project. A solution may be to ensure that the project goals (or product specifications in the case of a product development project) are not rigid and will be able to evolve along with the environmental changes around the project ensuring its survival.

The term 'scope creep' gets a bad reputation. A planned scope creep may not only be necessary, it may also help the company keep ahead in this ruthless competitive market. The market/customer is the boss, the goal of the team lead is to keep an eye on market evolution. In a quickly changing world of technology and requirements, the market demand may evolve and so should the team to meet the new demand. If the project is re-scoped, the project should be re-baselined and re-planned to account for the pivot in team's approach.

La gestión de cambios es importante para identificar desviaciones al alcance y tiempo, asimismo, verificar la ruta crítica e identificar nuevos riesgos.

Think about what could go wrong in the project because it's going to take a long time. Look carefully at all the possible risks right from the start. Create a clear process for dealing with any changes that come up during the project. Decide which changes are important and how they might affect the schedule, budget, and what we're trying to achieve. Keep checking the list of risks and update it regularly. Be ready with backup plans in case any of the risks actually happen. Encourage the team to always be thinking about what might go wrong and how to fix it quickly.

As the project evolves there will inevitably be change orders. One must think through change orders very carefully... for instance in the customer machine (automation) world, the addition one sensor can negatively effect the overall throughput of the machine. If this is not accounted for it will make getting approval much more difficult adding to the project schedule and negatively effecting the budget.

Managing project with same personel from start to finish can cut unnecessary wasted time due to new personel / replacement must learn about the project midway. To keep the team focus on the project, manager must draw a clear scope, give empowerment,for each personel. Let each team member be their own manager or at least in their scope of work. This will nurture them, and encourage them to make decision in smaller part , which in their field of expertise. Give credit when they succeed, and mentor them when they found difficulties.

My experience has taught me to include team members from all levels and disciplines as early in the process as possible. Having people at each level collaborating with each other will head off potential issues earlier in the process making it easier to hit the budget and schedule.

Managing engineering projects with long lead times requires careful planning, coordination, flexibility considered the Detailed of project and planning , Risk Management and proper communication and build a good relationship with suppliers and ensure the availability of materials stock as buffer Parallel keep the Process flexible with the changes and also continuous Improvement

Implementar herramientas de almacenamiento en la nube, de dise?o y comunicación es crucial para agilizar un proyecto de ingeniería. Además considerar incorporar especialistas al equipo será el mejor apoyo para el equipo de ingeniería.

Collaboration is key to all projects and as engineering managers we need to foster a culture that encourages and most importantly rewards it. Lone wolf behaviour might get us so far on isolated projects, but it’ll sink the larger ones. Why? Only one person: - Understands critical parts of the code - Is responsible for critical path tickets - Makes critical decisions about the technical estate - Has to handle all aspects of delivery from planning to shipping It doesn’t scale and it introduces serious business continuity risk. As managers we must ensure collaboration on projects, in and outside the team and across roles, is adopted as a mindset regardless of project and team size to set the foundations for future success.

To manage engineering projects with long lead times: Plan meticulously, identify risks, allocate resources wisely, communicate openly, prepare contingencies, manage suppliers closely, stay flexible, and maintain thorough documentation. This approach ensures effective navigation of challenges, enhances accountability, and increases the likelihood of project success.

Voici quelques suggestions pour avoir la réussite du projet : 1/Identification des besoins et compétences nécessaires. 2/établir une structure d'équipe avec des r?les bien définis pour chaque membre. 3/Communication régulière par l' Organisation des réunions pour faciliter la coordination et l'échange d'informations. 4/Utiliser des outils de gestion de projet qui permettent aux membres de l'équipe de partager des documents, de suivre l'avancement des taches et de mettre à jour les informations en temps réel. 5/ ldentifier les points d'interaction entre les différents intervenants. 6/ Harmonisation des calendriers et des échéances. 7/ Gestion des conflits et des compromis. 8/ Assurer régulièrement le suivi et l'avancement du projet.

During long projects staffing is always an issue - key personnel are not the problem, but the personnel to operate the facility have to be recruited, trained and then utilised as the project schedule requires. You can’t have large numbers of staff sitting around doing nothing - so efficient and timely recruitment needs to be planned. Usually the staff can be utilised to write the QMS, specifications, validation protocols, logbooks etc I have recruited staff a year in advance since biotech skills were generally not taught at their colleges, I organised training at a local university to train these recruits in Quality, Validation, processing techniques and in International English as this facility would provide product globally .

In the early phases of a project, it’s important to give the team the space to arrive at a shared mental model for the architecture and how the project will be accomplished. Mental model alignment takes time spent together discussing the approach. Tools like slack or notion or quip are poor ways to synchronize mental models. Video and in person time are necessary and strict time tracking doesn’t accelerate mental model alignment. Camaraderie and discussion does. Once everyone has a shared mental model, the rest of the phases can go more quickly in parallel. Toward the end of the project, it’s important to manage and track every task and detail closely until everything is done.

What I believe is that the most important factor of success is the selection of team members who can act as a unit that is more competent than the project manager. The tools as described herein are essential but do not replace thought and creativity.